Meme linking

[handslive]

Check this out, all you AIM using junkies. I don't use IM of any kind, so I'm immune.

1. When did you first connect ("go online"), and how?
   I think it was 1989 when I was taking the compiler course in university. Our lab machine (a VAX running BSD) was connected and offered Usenet services.
2. What was your first communications program?
   Before that, I was using Diga! on the Amiga to dial into various mainframes on campus. But they weren't Internet connected. After I dumped my Amiga, I was using WinSock under Windows 3.11.
3. When did you first chat over the Internet, and how?
   Not exactly "over the Internet", but I used 'talk' under Unix to ask some questions of a lab partner who was working in a different lab on campus. That was also 1989.
4. What chat type program(s) do you use now?
   I used ICQ briefly, but I had problems getting it to work through the gateway I was using at the time and people were posting exploits for it on Bugtraq all the time. I used Yahoo! Messenger for a while when a project manager in Calgary was using it all the time and wanted to pass questions and ideas to me instantly! :-\ I don't use anything now.
5. Who was your first service provider?
   The University of Alberta
6. Did you ever use AOL?
   Nope.
7. Do you admit using AOL in public?
   Hey, I hesitate to mention that I use my employer's ISP service sometimes.
8. Who is your current ISP?
   My employer offers a DSL and dialup service. I use that. I've infected relatives with it, too.
9. What was the first computer that you used to access the 'net?
   A VAX running BSD that went by the name 'jasper'. They were naming their machines on the 129.128.16.0/24 subnet by places on highway 16 at the time.
10. What computer do you use to access the 'net today?
    I've got a Windows XP box with an AMD Athlon (1.4GHz/256MB/40GB) at home. I've got a Windows 2K Pro box with a Pentium II (450MHz/128MB/6GB) at work.
11. What was your first 'net handle?
    It was my last name. Still is in most places.
12. Did you use any other handles for any length of time?
    Well, work uses the thoroughly mundane first.last notation on e-mail. And I've got several logins with just my first name, but don't usually use e-mail on them. And a 'stuck' address that I practically never use.
13. What 'net handle do you normally use now?
    Usually just my last name for e-mail.
14. Are you active on any Web sites other than LJ?
    Nah. Too lazy.
15. Has RMS ever tried to pick up your girlfriend?
    This is a troll, right?

I'm thinking someone needs to come up with an appropriate sys admin meme. This one was close, but dammit not close enough. I feel unfulfilled. :-)